Smart Drip Irrigation Maintains Phytosanitary Superiority under Dry Season Conditions in Shaded Cultivation of Celery (Apium graveolens L.) in Guyana
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Celery (Apium graveolens L.) is a commercially important crop in Guyana especially with the advancing of shaded cultivation as part of the national Climate-Smart Agriculture agenda. A companion study evaluating smart drip and sprinkler irrigation during the wet season (April-June 2025) demonstrated that smart drip irrigation significantly reduced foliar disease incidence while maintaining equivalent biomass yields. This study extends the investigation to the dry season (July-October 2025) to determine whether the phytosanitary and yield advantages of smart drip irrigation are sustained. A two-treatment, shade house trial (n = 6 beds per treatment, 504 plants per treatment) was conducted using an automated IoT irrigation system. No statistically significant difference in plant height, leaf length, leaf width or fresh biomass was detected between treatments (p greater than 0.05 for all parameters). Smart drip irrigation yielded a disease incidence of 2.8% compared to 9.3% under sprinkler irrigation (Fisher’s exact test: p = 1.30 x 10-9 and odds ratio = 0.282). These findings confirm that the phytosanitary superiority of smart drip irrigation is sustained across seasons, supporting its utilization for year-round shade house celery production in tropical contexts.
Language: English
Subfield: Soil Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7214362492